title: A survey of orofacial injuries among basketball players.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of orofacial injuries among basketball players in Benin City, Nigeria and to survey the athletes' awareness, attitude and use of mouthguards.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of basketball players in the standard basketball arena in Benin City was conducted between November 2009 and January 2010. A self-administered questionnaire elicited information on demography, the prevalence of oral and facial injuries, distribution of site and cause of orofacial injuries, athletes' knowledge, attitudes and usage of mouthguards. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and Chi square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 78%. Of the 156 respondents, 79.5% were male and 20.5% female, with a mean age of 23.1 years. The distributions was amateurs (61.5%) professionals (38.5%). The mean number of injuries in previous 12 months was 3.7 ± 1.8. The prevalence of both facial and oral injuries among the respondents was 62.8% with the lip and gingiva most commonly involved respectively. The common causes of the orofacial injury reported were from elbows of opponents, falling and collisions with other players. The prevalence of injury was not significantly associated with demography, category, competition and duration of participation. More than half had heard and seen mouthguards and the coach was the leading source of information. The reasons for non-use of mouthguard were mostly ignorance, non-availability and non-affordability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of orofacial injury among basketball players reported in this study justifies the need for multidisciplinary injury prevention interventional approach with emphasis on the rules of the games.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. clementazodo@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Clement Chinedu
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Azodo
authors.forename: Chukwuemeka Danielson
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Odai
authors.forename: Nosayaba
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Osazuwa-Peters
authors.forename: Ozoemene Ndubuisi
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Obuekwe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D001490:Basketball / Q000293:injuries; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000293:injuries*; D009064:Mouth Protectors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult